Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to say that if those people who are caring and working lost their job due to the pandemic, they are entitled to get other payments such as the pandemic unemployment payment or the enhanced illness benefit if they are off sick. I know that many carers have sought the abolition of the means test. Removing the means test for carer's allowance would in effect create a new universal social protection scheme for those meeting the scheme's basic caring condition. Based on the total number of carers identified as part of census 2016, it has been estimated that a universal carer's payment could cost in excess of €1.2 billion per annum more than current spending. Increased expenditure on this scale would fundamentally change the nature of financial support and clearly reduce the scope to fund other critical schemes and services. I recognise that some carers carry a substantial responsibility and there is no doubt that it takes over their lives but this is something that has to be discussed with the Department of Health too.

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